Exploring the Charleston connection

Published: Sunday, February 24, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 22, 2013 at 12:42 p.m.

Last week, I was in Charleston, S.C. It is the perfect place to whet the history buff's appetite, as the old buildings and cobblestone lanes are laden with tales of the past. Most folks in our community are aware that Flat Rock, here in our county, was a summer colony of Charleston people, and the two locations share some mutual history.

As a youngster, I lived in Charleston during my elementary school years. Times were different then. Slavery was a word that was just not uttered in polite company. Even though we now know that the harbor and waters around Charleston were a major arrival point for a significant percentage of incoming enslaved Africans, it was not common knowledge among the general population in decades past.

Frankly, it was something people wanted to forget. Not so today.

Taking a house tour or visiting a museum, the contributions of the enslaved community are now included. As are the quarters, living habits, photos and lifestyle of these people. The work of tradesmen, carpenters, cooks and gardeners are featured. Their skills are highlighted in goods such as furniture, wrought iron and basketry.

Certainly no location does this more than Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, where one can observe firsthand the revitalization of slave cabins and walk the slave cemetery set back in the woods. The Drayton family, along with the Magnolia Foundation, has taken this one step further by opening up family records. Extensive family trees are available and still under construction.

Magnolia is a world-renowned garden these days. Historic camellia plants from past centuries still grow there. When the azaleas bloom, there is no place quite like this to enjoy those lush spring flowers, live oaks, Spanish moss and the flow of the river.

The Rev. John Grimke Drayton, who owned and developed the gardens there during the Civil War era, was an Episcopal minister. His ownership of the plantation suddenly occurred when his brother died in a hunting accident. Due to some health problems, Rev. Drayton was not in top physical condition. He relied heavily on the help of Adam Bennett, an enslaved servant. The two worked closely to develop the gardens that so many people know and admire today.

Rev. Drayton served a church in Charleston, and eventually served the St. John in the Wilderness Church here in Flat Rock. Perhaps it was his observance of Scripture, or perhaps his close working relationship with Bennett, but Rev. Drayton defied the state laws of the time and taught enslaved people to read and write. His aunts, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, were such ardent abolitionists that they were outlawed from the state of South Carolina.

Toward the end of the Civil War, as Union troops grew closer and closer and destroyed more property, Rev. Drayton fled Charleston for Philadelphia and then his Flat Rock home, Ravenswood. If you drive around Flat Rock today, a subdivision still bears that name. The little spot of greenery on Greenville Highway known as the Flat Rock Preserve was once part of the Drayton estate.

Near the end of the war, the home at Magnolia Plantation was ignited and destroyed by troops of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Rev. Drayton was an educated man, reading papers, and surely worried about the fate of his own home, as he was far away. According to plantation history, Bennett walked the many, many miles to Flat Rock to deliver the news to Rev. Drayton in person. After the war, the two returned to Charleston to continue their work on the gardens.

The Bennett family and their descendants remained at Magnolia for many generations. A sign on the property lists their names and their contributions, and the slave cemetery bears the Bennett name as well.

Rev. Drayton was buried here in Flat Rock, at St. John in the Wilderness Church. The church cemetery has a special section for the enslaved people and servants who perished during their time here at the summer colony.

Historic Flat Rock Inc. continues to preserve our unique history here and is to be commended for preserving some local African-American history with its new marker honoring the contributions of John Markley, a Flat Rock blacksmith who was born into slavery in 1848.

Newcomers to the area wanting to know more local history may want to join an organizations like this, or take a tour of the St. John in the Wilderness Church and cemetery, and read the history of the church by the late historian Louise Bailey. Stop by the public library and read the story of the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a community for freed slaves that was once located near the N.C.-S.C. border.

I have noticed in more recent years that we do not see as many news items during Black History Month. Perhaps this is a sign that history is more all-encompassing these days.

I view this month as a time to think about diversity, especially in a homogenous community such as ours where opportunities to know one another are not common occurrences.

It is a time to think about the past and to learn from its lessons. We are presented with an opportunity to check our moral compasses: to think about how we treat each other in the present, how we talk about one another, and the meaning of respect.

Editor's note: Articles on the Kingdom of the Happy Land and John Markley are available on the Times-News website, BlueRidgeNow.com. The url for the story on the Kingdom is www.blueridgenow.com/article/20120219/NEWS/120219798. The article on the Markley family is found at www.blueridgenow.com/article/20130217/NEWS/130219847. A third Black History Month story on efforts to preserve the childhood home of singer Nina Simone in Tryon is available at www.blueridgenow.com/article/20130210/NEWS/130209844.

<p>Last week, I was in Charleston, S.C. It is the perfect place to whet the history buff's appetite, as the old buildings and cobblestone lanes are laden with tales of the past. Most folks in our community are aware that Flat Rock, here in our county, was a summer colony of Charleston people, and the two locations share some mutual history.</p><p>As a youngster, I lived in Charleston during my elementary school years. Times were different then. Slavery was a word that was just not uttered in polite company. Even though we now know that the harbor and waters around Charleston were a major arrival point for a significant percentage of incoming enslaved Africans, it was not common knowledge among the general population in decades past.</p><p>Frankly, it was something people wanted to forget. Not so today.</p><p>Taking a house tour or visiting a museum, the contributions of the enslaved community are now included. As are the quarters, living habits, photos and lifestyle of these people. The work of tradesmen, carpenters, cooks and gardeners are featured. Their skills are highlighted in goods such as furniture, wrought iron and basketry.</p><p>Certainly no location does this more than Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, where one can observe firsthand the revitalization of slave cabins and walk the slave cemetery set back in the woods. The Drayton family, along with the Magnolia Foundation, has taken this one step further by opening up family records. Extensive family trees are available and still under construction.</p><p>Magnolia is a world-renowned garden these days. Historic camellia plants from past centuries still grow there. When the azaleas bloom, there is no place quite like this to enjoy those lush spring flowers, live oaks, Spanish moss and the flow of the river.</p><p>The Rev. John Grimke Drayton, who owned and developed the gardens there during the Civil War era, was an Episcopal minister. His ownership of the plantation suddenly occurred when his brother died in a hunting accident. Due to some health problems, Rev. Drayton was not in top physical condition. He relied heavily on the help of Adam Bennett, an enslaved servant. The two worked closely to develop the gardens that so many people know and admire today.</p><p>Rev. Drayton served a church in Charleston, and eventually served the St. John in the Wilderness Church here in Flat Rock. Perhaps it was his observance of Scripture, or perhaps his close working relationship with Bennett, but Rev. Drayton defied the state laws of the time and taught enslaved people to read and write. His aunts, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, were such ardent abolitionists that they were outlawed from the state of South Carolina.</p><p>Toward the end of the Civil War, as Union troops grew closer and closer and destroyed more property, Rev. Drayton fled Charleston for Philadelphia and then his Flat Rock home, Ravenswood. If you drive around Flat Rock today, a subdivision still bears that name. The little spot of greenery on Greenville Highway known as the Flat Rock Preserve was once part of the Drayton estate.</p><p>Near the end of the war, the home at Magnolia Plantation was ignited and destroyed by troops of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Rev. Drayton was an educated man, reading papers, and surely worried about the fate of his own home, as he was far away. According to plantation history, Bennett walked the many, many miles to Flat Rock to deliver the news to Rev. Drayton in person. After the war, the two returned to Charleston to continue their work on the gardens.</p><p>The Bennett family and their descendants remained at Magnolia for many generations. A sign on the property lists their names and their contributions, and the slave cemetery bears the Bennett name as well.</p><p>Rev. Drayton was buried here in Flat Rock, at St. John in the Wilderness Church. The church cemetery has a special section for the enslaved people and servants who perished during their time here at the summer colony.</p><p>Historic Flat Rock Inc. continues to preserve our unique history here and is to be commended for preserving some local African-American history with its new marker honoring the contributions of John Markley, a Flat Rock blacksmith who was born into slavery in 1848.</p><p>Newcomers to the area wanting to know more local history may want to join an organizations like this, or take a tour of the St. John in the Wilderness Church and cemetery, and read the history of the church by the late historian Louise Bailey. Stop by the public library and read the story of the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a community for freed slaves that was once located near the N.C.-S.C. border.</p><p>I have noticed in more recent years that we do not see as many news items during Black History Month. Perhaps this is a sign that history is more all-encompassing these days.</p><p>I view this month as a time to think about diversity, especially in a homogenous community such as ours where opportunities to know one another are not common occurrences.</p><p>It is a time to think about the past and to learn from its lessons. We are presented with an opportunity to check our moral compasses: to think about how we treat each other in the present, how we talk about one another, and the meaning of respect.</p><p>Editor's note: Articles on the Kingdom of the Happy Land and John Markley are available on the Times-News website, BlueRidgeNow.com. The url for the story on the Kingdom is www.blueridgenow.com/article/20120219/NEWS/120219798. The article on the Markley family is found at www.blueridgenow.com/article/20130217/NEWS/130219847. A third Black History Month story on efforts to preserve the childhood home of singer Nina Simone in Tryon is available at www.blueridgenow.com/article/20130210/NEWS/130209844.</p>